Saturday morning in a busy supermarket, Christian Henry is carefully weaving his way through the aisles, his sight-impaired mother on his arm, as they select the groceries for the next fortnight.

It is a routine the 14-year-old has been following since he was a boy at Sharon Primary School.

Speaking softly to the SUNDAY SUN a few mornings later as he is spotted leading his mother to the stop for her bus to work before he heads off to school, the obviously shy boy vows he will continue to be his mother’s eyes for as long as she needs him.

Christian is the child Janet Henry had always longed for, since she considered motherhood her optimum fulfilment as a woman and especially a woman with a disability.

“As a person with a visual impairment, I was excited to have him,” she admitted. “I always wanted to be a mother, and I did not have any fears nor concerns when I became pregnant with Christian.”

In fact, the zenith of her maternal satisfaction was when she heard her newborn son cry out for the first time as the doctor placed him on her chest immediately after birth.

“I always used to pray to the Lord for a healthy child. My only real fear was when he was a baby and started to run around the house, that he would pick up something and put it in his mouth,” she said.

That fear was, however, allayed by an alert and vigilant grandmother, happy to participate in the upbringing of the only grandchild she was fortunate to have raised under her roof.

The bond between this mother and child is unmistakably special.

“I was born visually impaired,” Janet explains.

Remarkably, both she and her twin sister, Constance, were born with optic atrophy, a condition in which the optic nerve is not properly developed. The optical defect which  progressed with age has resulted in both sisters losing more and more of their residual vision, which can never be recovered.

Janet says: “I could see a lot more before, but now I can only make out shadows in the day and I can see nothing at night.”

Normal childhood

She had a normal childhood attending Chalky Mount Primary School, except for the difficulty seeing the chalkboard. But sitting in the front row of the class, she relied on classmates to read the board for her, and  they were very helpful.

She and her sister failed the Screening Test and continued at Chalky Mount Primary until age 16, going on to separate vocational centres to further their academic studies.

Growing up in a household of 11 children, two of whom were sight-impaired, there may have been some deprivation, but also showers of love for these special children.

“My mother always said she has 11 children, but the two of us were the ones you should always look out for, because the others could go out and work but we can’t,” Janet recalled.

Janet’s 83-year-old mother and 86-year-old father are still “looking out” for this one of their sight-impaired daughters, now 48, for whom they continue to provide shelter and support at their Bridgefield, St Thomas home. The other is married and settled with her own family.

Janet tells of being invited to enroll at the Blind Workshop by the late Anthony Spencer and Irvine Wilson, both pioneers in the School For The Blind. She has been employed at the workshop for several years, making mops.

She recalls the days when she used to take her toddler to Precious Angels Nursery just a stone’s throw away from her workplace.

He was just two and a half years old and the weekly exercise involved travelling with him on the bus from Bridgefield to Bridgetown and taking another bus to Bay Street, near where the nursery and workplace were located. People often remarked about her bravery and the sight of the “blind woman” and her “little boy”.

Today when mother and son are seen travelling through Bridgetown, the remark is often: “Oh, the little boy get big.”

The little boy has indeed grown up to be the “very respectful, very helpful son” his mother adores, and when she sits him down for heart-to-heart talks, her advice to him is to stay away from “bad company” and drugs and “do not allow people to take advantage of your shyness”.

There is also limited reinforcement of these ideals from Christian’s father, who is also sight-impaired, and who speaks with his son regularly.

But like all other single mothers, there are challenges raising a teenage boy.

“I know he has his friends and when he goes to school his friends might tell him your mother is blind. I always have to remind him don’t be ashamed of me,” Janet says.

While he responds to his mother’s concerns, Christian, a fourth-former at Ellerslie School, grapples with his own challenges, quietly fighting his own battle with dyslexia as he confesses: “It is hard to read books and write compositions. I don’t do well with those.”

Lessons at the Dyslexic Centre have somewhat helped and he gets additional reinforcement with the maths lessons he takes outside of school. While his mother would like to see him get involved in sports, Christian has taken to the guitar, playing at the neighbourhood church while also taking weekly guitar instruction.

This is the release to which he looks forward outside the commitment to constantly accompany his mother on shopping trips, on her various appointments and other outings. And with some reticence he does confess to sometimes wishing he could have more free time to spend with his friends.

Yet he does not complain. His mother is his priority and the attitude to his situation confirms her proud boast:

“My son is a shy person, but he is very respectful, very obedient and very helpful. We go shopping; if I have an appointment we go together, and I like to go to his school meetings.”

Janet manages to do some cooking, laundry and other household chores which she admits her son is not keen on doing. Instead, at home he loses himself on the computer. This is one thing he likes and the career avenue he hopes to pursue after leaving school.

In the meantime, being each other’s guide remains the priority of this mother and son.

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